BostonBiker.org Archives

Seems I called it yesterday when I postulated that the city was going to be launching its bike share program today at its cryptic meeting.

Boston officials said the system, to be called Hubway, will open in July with 600 bicycles and 61 stations in the city, though they envision growing in a few years to as many as 5,000 bikes at more than 300 kiosks, from Brookline to Somerville.(via)

This has been in the works forever, and I am glad they finally have locked down a vendor and a date. If you want your head to explode check out the comment section for the Boston Globe (via link above). You can see my impressions of the DC bike share, which I got the chance to take a look at here.

A lot of people feel like this is going to result in blood filling the streets, but anyone who rides in Boston on a regular basis will tell you that the biking is easiest when their are other cyclists around. More cyclists = more safety, not the other way around.

I am going to go out of my way to smile and wave to every single person I see on one of these bikes. I am going to go out of my way to give them tips for riding, to help them navigate, just in general be super helpful and nice to anyone on a bike share bike.

The reason, I think this is the perfect gateway drug to people trying cycling for the first time, and the more cyclists we have the better. I encourage you all to do the same. Every person on a bike is one less person in a car. We’re here, we’re geared, get used to it!

8 Responses
to “City To Announce Bike Share “Hubway” Today”

“Riders must first sign up for memberships — including a liability waiver and a pledge to wear a helmet — on kiosk touch screens, with memberships likely to range from about $5 a day to $85 a year.”

I don’t know how seriously the company/city is planning to take this “helmet pledge” but a helmet law KILLED the bike share in Melbourne, Australia. I am very pro-helmet, but people aren’t going to carry one around for the bike share.

I really hope Cambridge and Somerville are able to buy at least a few stations close to Boston (Union Sq, Central, Harvard, Inman, Lechmere, MIT, Kendall, perhaps) this summer as well to get things going. While I get it might take another year to really get them more widespread, it will really jump start things if people can make quick trips across the river, not to mention increase the # of people who will be motivated to make these crossings safer as they are being currently redesigned.

One interesting thing about the longfellow bridge meeting a week or so ago was the traffic studies showing that the vast majority of cars crossing the bridge are going from east cambridge (Central and Kendall) to either downtown or the airport. Bike share won’t help with the airport, unless you’re feeling up for an adventure, but it could replace a ton of trips, either by itself or in conjunction with the T

I groaned at the ceremony when they bragged about their “38 miles” of bike lanes in 2010. Which is practically all of the bike lanes in the whole city. Whoopie.

Portland is up to 100 miles of bike lane now, and NYC has laid down 200 miles as of 2009 to bring their total over 400 miles.

The bike share would be WAY more successful if the infrastructure was already in place to convince risk averse tourists and commuters to hit the road.

Can we get these corporate sponsors to cover bike lane costs? Stripe them in New Balance colors or something. I really don’t care, so long as the paint hits the pavement.

Also, biking in downtown Boston really sucks. One-way streets are a bullshit car thing. I’ve never seen a street two bicycles couldn’t fit down side-by-side, even in the North End. And it was kind of a shock to go from a “yay bikes” rally to a “no bikes allowed” sign at the Boston Commons when I wanted to cut across.

Bikes are allowed on the Common, but not the Public Garden. I think pedestrian congestion on the bridge in the Public Garden made the ban necessary, but it is silly one can’t ride down the outer paths.

Boylston, Beacon, the Greenway, and a few key downtown streets really need infrastructure. It’s silly that these major spines and dense areas have yet to be included in the system.